Door-opening mechanism for elevators



H. L. BRAYTON.

DOOR OPENING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19,1920.

Patnted Jan. 31,1922;

2 SHEETS-SHEET lmm Li i; 57 0 01.

ATTORNEYS WITNESSES H. L. BRAYTON.

DOOR OPENING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19. I920.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES A TTORNEIS HENRY LYMAN BRAYTON, OF OWOSSO, MICHIGAN.

DOOR-OPENING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS.

Application filed July 19,

To all u ham it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. BRAYTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates,'and a resident of Owosso, in the county of Shiawassee and Stateof Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Door-Opening Mechanism forElevators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription. g

This invention relates to a mechanism for opening doors in .elevatorshafts, and has particular reference to one o in which the doors may beautomatically opened by the movement of the elevator inthe shaft.

This invention is related to my United States-Patent No. 1,007 A28,issued October 31, 1911, entitled Safety gate for elevators.

An object of the invention is to provide a door-opening mechanism whichcan simply, efficiently, and automatically, be actuated by the elevatoroperator at will.

Another object resides inthe provision of means whereby, when thisappliance is used in connection with high-speed elevators, the operatingparts are not injured by the shock or contact between the elevator andthe operating parts.

A further object resides in the provision of means whereby the doors orgates are more quickly returned to normal. i

A still further object resides in the particular arrangement andconstruction of the parts as hereinafter set forth .in the detaileddescription and claims.

Heretofore, in the provision of automatic means whereby the movement ofan elevator in the shaft has been adapted to operate mechanism and toopen the doors or gates at different floor levels, either the elevatorsmovement was so slow as to not cause any great shock or jar on thedoor-opening mechanism when it came in contact with certain parts of theelevator, or, if the elevator was a high-speed elevator, the shock ofthis contact speedily put the door-opening mechanism out of order.Moreover, in-most instances, gravity alone has been relied upon toreturn the doors or gates to normal, so that, in the case of highspeedelevators, the elevator would have passed the floor level before theopening had been entirely closed.

My invention is concerned with means whereby these disadvantages areovercome, with particular reference to highspeed elevators, andcomprises in general means on an elevator which is adapted to contactwith movable door-opening mechanism,v which Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922. 1920. Serial No. 397,372.

mechanism is located at thefioor level in the shaft in the path of thecontacting means above mentioned. ,The contacting means is provided withcertain shiftable parts, which,

in their normal position and movement, areadapted to pass by and notcontact with the door-operating means above mentioned. Then, however,the elevator operator desires to open the door at any. particularfioorlevel, by moving the shiftable, means from normalpositionat some instantprior to anism and the stationary supports to which they are anchored,whereby the shock of suddenengagement thereof with "the contactingmechanism bove mentioned will be substantially absorbed by the resilientmeans.

My invention also comprises the dispositionof energy-storing devices inconnection with the door-opening mechanism -so that when the.mecliani'sm'is operated to open a door energy will be stored in said:device and glven up to the dooropenlng mechanism when the door is to beclosed, sothat the I door is more rapidly, operated upon closing. Myinvention further comprisesspecific details of construction andarrangementof the parts as will be hereinafter apparentv from aconsiderationof the following description and claims. 1 p

The invention is illustrated in the drawinQ'S,'0f which Figurelrepresentsan elevation of a por- ,tion of an elevatorshaft opposite afloor level and showing the elevator at that level and the parts inposition when the door is open;

Figure 2 1s a longitudinal section, with V certain parts in elevation,of that portion of the door-opening mechanism which is immediatelyoperated by the elevator;

Figure 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Figure 2; s 1 o Figure 4is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2; 2 I c Figure 5 is apartial elevation showing how the ends of the contacting means may beshifted to engage with the door-operating mechanism;

Figure 6 is another view of the same de vice; and

Figure 7 is an elevation of the door or gate showing the resilientconnection between the door or gate and the connection whereby it isoperated.

As illustrated in the drawings, the invention is shown as applied to anelevator shaft 1 in which an elevator platform 2 is adapted to move. Theplatform is provided with the usual upright portions 3 provided withbraces 1. To one side of the elevator upright portion 3 adjacent onewall of the shaft 1, there are disposed a pair of arms 5 to which isattached a cam surface 6. At its outer end portions the cam surface 6 isprovided with pivoted endportions 7 and 8 which are adapted normally tolie in the position shownindotted line in Figure 1.

A floor level is shown at 9 with the usual elevator shaft opening whichmay be'partially or completely closed by a door or gate 10. This door orgate 10 is connected through the usual system of pulleys by a ropeconnection 11 with a large pulley 12. This pulley in turn has a smallerpulley 13 thereon which is connected to another rope or flexibleconnection let. This flexible con-,

nection 1&1 passesover a pulley 15 which is rigidly fastened to aframework 16 in the side of the elevator shaft adjacent the floor 9,.and alsolover a movable pulley 17 which is mounted on a movablecrosshead 18 adapted to move in a slot or guideway 19 in the framework16. The other end of the flexible connection 1 1 is fastened to the wallof the shaft by means of a resilient connection 20. As shown inFigure 7the door or gate is likewise connected to the rope or flexibleconnection 11 through themedium of a resilient connection or spring 21.

As shown in Figure 2, the crosshead 18 in its movement in the slot 19eventually is adapted to contact with a slidable plate 22 which'isconnected to a spring 23 fastened at its other end to the framework 16.The above-mentioned springs or resilient connections are disposed in theoperating connections of the door-opening mechanism for the purpose ofabsorbing any initial shock which may take place when the door-openingmechanism is engaged by the cam surface onthe elevator, especially inthe case of high- .speed elevators.

"The'crosshead 18' is provided with a cam roller 24 which is suitablyjournaled therein. 'This cam roller projects fromthe side of thecrosshead 1 8'and is disposed in such a plane'that when the elevatorreaches the floor level 9 the cam surface 6 is adapted to contact withthe cam roller 24. The pivoted ends 7 and 8 of the .cam surface 6 areprovided at their'inner ends with slotted portions"25 in 'whicha'pin onone end of a bell crank lever 26 is adapted to slide." This bell cranklever 26 is pivoted to the main portion of the cam surface 6, and at itsother end 27 connects with a resilient connection 28,

which may be a spring or may be a rope connection with a small'springdisposed intermediate its length. This connection 28 extends to asimilar bell crank lever on the other end of the cam surface 6, which inturn makes contact with that pivoted end of the cam surface. It isapparent, therefore, that the action of the resilient connection 28 issuch as to normally dispose the pivoted ends of the cam surface 6 in theposition. shown in dotted lines in F gure 1 and in door-openingmechanism when the doors are needlessly operated. To overcome thesedefects, therefore, the pivoted ends of the cam surface are provided, sothat as the elevator passes any particular floor level the pivotedcam-engaging ends 7 and 8 in their normal position'are not in line tocontact with the cam roller 24 when it is in its normal retractedposition, as represented in Figure 2. Therefore, whenever the operatordesires to stop at a certain floor and open the door at this floorlevel, as he approaches this level he manually moves the desired pivotedend of the cam surface 6 so that this end is momentarily held in theposition shown in full line in Figure 1, so that it is adapted to engagewith the cam roller 24; which, thereupon, rides on the cam surface 6 andis moved to the position shown in Figure 1, in which position the ropesand flexible connections have been actuated and moved to place the doorsin the position shown in Figure 1. As the elevator continues itsmovement, the cam surface 6 is moved so that the roller 24 passes offthe rear portion of the cam surface,whereupon the spring 23 exerts itsstored-up energy to force the plate22 against the crosshead 18 andmovethe same back to normal position, thus terially assisting the force ofgravity in re storing the doors to their closed position. What I claimis: i p i 1. A door-opening mechanism for elevators, comprisingdoor-opening means" disposed in the elevator shaft, a cam surfacedisposed on the elevator and adapted to engage with the door-openingmeans during the movement of the elevator, pivoted end portions on saidcam surface adapted initially to engage the door-opening mechanisin, andresilient means for disposing the ends of the cam surface normally outof the line of engagement with the door-opening means.

2. A door-operating mechanism for elevators, comprising a door-operatingmeans disposed within the elevator shaft, a cam surface on the elevatorhaving pivoted ends for initially engaging the door-opening means, abell crank lever pivoted on the cam surface and connected to saidpivoted ends, and a spring connecting the opposite ends of the bellcrank levers and adapted to cause the disposal of the pivoted ends ofthe cam surface normally out of the line of engagement with thedoor-opening means.

3. A door-operating mechanism for elevators, comprising a door,operating means for said door located Within the elevator shaft,

flexible connections between said operating means and the door, andresilient members disposed in the length of said flexible connections toabsorb the initial energy of movement of said connections.

l. A door-operating mechanism for elevators, comprising a door, anoperating means therefor disposed Within the elevator shaft, flexibleconnections between said operating means and said door, an elevator,means on said elevator to engage the operating mecha- HENRY LYMANBRAYTON.

